I don’t know since when, candy became unlovable. People talk about the discoloration of sugar, saying that eating sugar will make you gain weight, and eating sugar will cause diabetes. Especially some young women who love beauty are not only afraid of eating sugar, but also stay away from sweets and even fruits. Trying to eat as little sugar as possible seems to be the rule of thumb for people today. Research by medical scientists and nutritionists has proven that people’s understanding of sugar is wrong. Eating sugar is not only harmless, but also beneficial to health.
Speaking of sugar, people naturally think of granulated sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar and candies. In fact, what nutritionists call sugar includes a wider range of foods. It is a large class of organic compounds produced by plants through photosynthesis. Sugar is widely distributed in the biological world and is contained in almost all plants, animals and microorganisms, especially in the plant kingdom, accounting for about 80% of the dry weight. Humans and animals cannot "produce" sugar like plants. Sugar in the human body is mainly provided by food. Sugar is composed of several elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Most of the proportions of hydrogen and oxygen are similar to the proportions of water, so sugar is also called carbohydrates.
The fruit sugar, brown sugar, white sugar and rock sugar we usually eat are collectively called sucrose. Sucrose is only one type of sugar, and others such as starch, maltose, lactose and glucose are all sugars. After a research meeting, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization published a consultation report on "Carbohydrates in Human Food". The report overturned all the false accusations against sugar and "vindicated" sugar. The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" once recommended that people "eat less sweets", but this item has been deleted from the newly revised "Guidelines".
As for sugar, the current "rehabilitative" mainly include the following:
Eating sugar will not make people gain weight. According to statistics from some countries, people who eat less sugar are more likely to gain weight than those who eat less sugar. People with a lot of sugar are more likely to suffer from obesity. Because obese people are often caused by eating too much fat, too little exercise and overnutrition, and are not caused by eating too much sugar. In fact, sugar can reduce your appetite and prevent you from eating too much.
Eating sugar will not cause diabetes. The factors leading to diabetes are complex. It is caused by the damage of pancreatic islet function. Normal people eating sugar will not cause hyperglycemia and diabetes.
People in China’s sugar-producing areas eat a lot of sugar. The Ministry of Health once organized experts to investigate the incidence of diabetes in sugar-producing areas of Guangxi. Among the 11,034 people surveyed, only 10 had positive urine results. After a glucose tolerance test, it was found that the incidence of diabetes was 7.07%. We also investigated 9,261 people in non-sugar-producing areas for comparison, and found 60 people who were positive for diabetes. After a glucose tolerance test, the incidence rate of diabetes in these people was 10.47%. These surveys and experiments have fully proved that there is no direct relationship between the amount of sugar consumed and diabetes.
Eating sugar will not cause cardiovascular disease. In the past, people believed that sugar could easily cause coronary heart disease. Medical scientists now prove that this is just a misunderstanding, there is no causal relationship between the two, and eating sugar has no adverse effect on blood lipids. A survey in the United States has proven that the consumption of sugar in the United States has increased over the past 20 years, while the number of people dying from myocardial infarction has decreased.
Eating sugar is only one of the causes of dental caries. When it comes to dental caries, people will naturally think of sugar. Italian dental researchers examined more than 55,000 people aged 7-64 and showed that there is no relationship between the amount of sugar eaten every day and dental caries. However, if you do not pay attention to oral hygiene, eating candies in a "sticky" manner will harm your teeth. Cause harm. In fact, there are many causes of tooth decay, and eating sugar is just one of them.
Dental experts point out that the prevention and treatment of dental caries should focus on fluoridation and oral hygiene, rather than simply reducing sugar intake.
Eating sugar has nothing to do with cancer and trace element deficiencies. Medical research has proven that there is no connection between cancer and sugar. On the contrary, sugar is also beneficial to preventing cancer. Eating sugar has nothing to do with micronutrient deficiencies. In recipes high in sugar, only fiber intake was reduced.
Carbohydrates can be divided into monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Sugars that are no longer hydrolyzed are called monosaccharides; disaccharides are formed by pulling together two monosaccharide molecules and removing one water molecule; polysaccharides are composed of many monosaccharides. Monosaccharides are the basic units of the carbohydrate family. The most common monosaccharides are glucose and fructose. The human body's blood sugar is glucose. Keeping the human body's blood sugar concentration relatively constant plays an important role in the activities of the nervous system, especially the brain. Sucrose, maltose (caramel sugar) and lactose (found in milk and breast milk) are disaccharides that can be converted into glucose in the human body. Polysaccharides include starch, glycogen, and cellulose, all of which are composed of glucose. Starch is abundant in grains, and glycogen exists in animal livers and muscles. The human body does not have the enzyme to decompose cellulose, and the glucose contained in cellulose cannot be decomposed and utilized. The human body can only absorb monosaccharides. Both disaccharides and polysaccharides need to be digested and broken down into monosaccharides before they can be absorbed by the body. Cooked starch (rice, steamed buns) can also be turned into glucose after digestion.
People have to expend heat and effort when performing all activities. Sugar reacts with oxygen in the human body to produce carbon dioxide and water, and can release energy, and people gain the ability to move. Without sugar, we cannot move and work, and the heart cannot beat. The glycogen stored in the human body is very small, about 300 grams, which is only enough for half a day, so people need to eat three meals a day to replenish energy.
The latest research by scientists shows that sugar is an important information carrier for life. Nucleic acids are important genetic materials and all contain ribose.
Proteins, amino acids, and fats are all connected by carbon atoms. These carbon chains are decomposed and converted from sugar compounds. Sugar is very important to the human body. Nutrition and food experts point out that people's misunderstandings about sugar are too deep. In fact, sugar is not necessarily related to many "diseases of modern civilization". Eating sugar in moderation is beneficial to human health. Sugar is a brain-building food. Whether you are young or old, eating sugar can help improve your memory.
Eating sweets in moderation can improve your mental state and improve your learning and work efficiency. For babies, eating sugar is not only beneficial to their growth and development, but also good for relieving pain and reducing stress. Austrian researchers believe that drivers running long distances should carry some sugary foods with them and eat them in moderation on the way to help concentrate. Research shows that eating sweets can reduce the incidence of car accidents by 50%. Japanese scientists have discovered that calcium in milk and other foods cannot be directly absorbed by the small intestine. If sugar is added, it will help calcium absorption. Scientists have also found that eating sugar can extend your life.
The average person in the Nordic region eats 40 kilograms of sugar per year and is one of the regions with the highest life expectancy in the world. This at least shows that eating more sugar will not affect life span.
Researchers from Harvard University in the United States report:
People who like to eat candy live longer than those who do not eat candy. Among the 7,800 men surveyed, the longest-lived man was also a 95-year-old man who loved eating candy. Ruzhen City, Jiangsu Province, my country has more than 200 centenarians and is a famous longevity town. Surveys show that most centenarians have sugar bowls next to their beds, and most of the sugar bowls are filled with rock candy. The old people eat whatever they want when they go to bed. 107-year-old Mrs. Tang said that her favorite snack in life is candy, and she often eats rice with sugar.
According to relevant information: the annual per capita sugar consumption in developed countries in Europe and the United States reaches 40-50 kilograms, that in India is 14 kilograms, while in my country the per capita consumption is less than 6 kilograms, and sugar consumption is at a very low level in the world. International nutritionists generally believe that it is more scientific for each person to eat 60 grams of refined sugar per day, that is, 22 kilograms of sugar throughout the year. However, they also believe that even if the average sugar consumption per person doubles, it will not be harmful to health. However, the per capita weight in our country is only 6 kilograms, and the gap is huge. Food experts and nutritionists believe that in terms of the amount of sugar required for human health, we Chinese eat too little sugar.